How to Calculate Your Ideal Weight Based on Your Body Fat Percentage

Its common during client check-ins and re-assessments to take body fat percentages as a gauge for progress. 

WHY DO BODY FAT PERCENTAGES MATTER?

Knowing these numbers can give us a more realistic idea of how much fat we need to gain or lose, depending on our individual circumstances, but oftentimes after knowing these numbers, we’re not sure what to do with them. With our boy fat percentages, we can get an exact number of how much weight we need to lose (or gain) to get to our goals.

Today we’re going to talk about what to do with these numbers to figure out how many pounds we need to lose to get within a healthier or more athletic range.

First we need to take our body fat measurements if we don’t already have them.

If you belong to a commercial gym, a personal trainer can do a consultation with you and take your body fat measurements via calipers or bioelectrical impedence, usually for free.

Once we have this number along with our current weight, we can get started!

We’ll use my most recent measurements and goals as an example.

STEP ONE

Start by subtracting your ideal body fat percentage from your current body fat percentage. This number will tell us how much more we need to lose.

19% (current) - 14% (ideal) = 5% to lose

If you’re unsure of a goal, use this chart to see healthy body fat ranges for men and women.

STEP TWO

Now let’s take our current weight and multiply that by our current body fat percentage. This number will tell us how many pounds of fat we carry on our body. Don’t freak out by this number; we NEED a certain amount of fat on our bodies to survive. If this number were 0, we wouldn’t be sitting here reading this, so keep that in mind.

150 * 0.19 = 28.5 pounds of fat currently

STEP THREE

Let’s now take our current weight and multiply that by our ideal body fat percentage. This will tell us how many pounds of fat we should have if we were at our ideal body fat percentage.

150 * 0.14 = 21 pounds

STEP FOUR

Finally, let’s take our current body fat (in pounds) and subtract our goal body fat (in pounds). This will tell us how much weight we have to lose.

28.5 pounds (current) - 21 pounds (goal) = 7.5 pounds to lose

STEP FIVE

From these calculations, I have 7.5 pounds to lose to get to my ideal body fat percentage of 14%. This would mean that I would, then, be at my goal when I’m around 142.5 pounds.

150- 7.5 pounds = 142.5 pounds

FINAL NOTES

Just remember the scale fluctuates consistently and body fat percentages can oftentimes be slightly off. Don’t get caught up in numbers; at the end of the day, follow an effective program and be consistent. You will get there!